As I fight my "robot" vacuum, which is by the way is my fourth, three have been sent back, it brings to mind how often design has failed in our lives.
I want you to think of an item you have, anything, such as a car, a phone, a cooking appliance, anything that you just love using. If its that good that means the designer designed an item that you want to use over and over again. It gives one a nice, warm, comfy feeling. You are never frustrated using it.
Now think of an item you absolutely hate to use but in the course of your life must. It too could be a car, an iron, even the way a door opens. I have plenty of those in my life and I bet you do too. Some you could fix but never get around to it and some, like doors hung the wrong way, often can't be. However, when you use them you give them a silent curse.
 |
| Do you feel the robots are ganging up on you? |
Back to the robot vacuum, an Aiper I might add. Today it vacuumed a bit and when I didn't hear it hump anything went to look for it and there it was, docked. The floors still had tufts of dog hair everywhere. The point was to, well, to vacuum it. Dragging out the plug-in vacuum I had the whole place vacuumed in about 15 minutes. The robot can take up to hours if it vacuumed at all! Ironically the only robot that does a fairly decent job is my $25.00 O'Cedar with a simple replaceable mat that does a credible job of collecting dog hair especially under the bed and under the couches - better than I can reach or the robot can find. Though it too has a problem with humping my pedestal barstools and a swivel recliner.
 |
| Xerox Copier Model A |
Technology is both a blessing and a curse. One of the best stories I ever heard about our technology revolution was about the very first Xerox copier. Evidently when it hit the market the first model was a flop. No one, other than the engineers, of course, could use it. Finally, taking a lesson from Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, Xerox brought in people off the street to watch how they used it, filming their actions. It soon became apparent that no one understood what the buttons were for, how to lay the item to be scanned and just about everything else. Engineers often don't think the same way as you and me. After many trials and changes, they tried it again and they started a revolution of an item we can't live without today. However, like many things, even all copiers are not the same.
While just about every company knows about Apple
and its creations, the Apple Computer, the Macintosh, the iPod, the iPad, the iPhone and now the Watch and stunning new iPod Pro's, rivals haven't seemed to learn the lesson or if they copy haven't learned it completely. While I sometimes have issues and not every product is perfect (think of iOS 8 and now the buggy iOS 13) their products on the main are very user friendly.
When the iPad first came out a popular YouTube video was of a 2 year-old who was given a new iPad to use and within minutes turned it on and was using the games put on there for her. It was said that in test runs of this same iPad, seniors were given it to test their reactions and many refused to give them up. A finger was much easier to use than a mouse. What's even more, it's much easier to lug around than a laptop and each iteration becomes more and more powerful.
 |
| 737 Max - an example of how design can go so wrong |
 |
| Pontiac Aztec. Would you buy it? |
There are many examples of how design can go so wrong. Remember the Pontiac Aztec? It was GM's foray into the world of small SUV's. It was so ugly that it was considered by many to be one of the ugliest cars ever designed. Even today you have to wonder what the designers were smoking to create a car with so many different designs that appeared to be combined into one car.
 |
| Guess they couldn't find the toilet paper and smeared it on the walls. |
However, it was the beginning of a whole series of cars that mostly came from Japan, but America was not far behind, in the discovery if you add a fold or a crease here, five or even ten creases had to be better. Look at just about any car today and you will see what I mean. 2019 Chevy pickups are selling slower because it's, well, ugly. Most companies have still not learned Coco Chanel's dictum, "Less is more."
The list goes on and on. Anyone that has driven the LA freeways knows exactly what bad design is. There is no North, South, East or West it says Ventura, or San Diego, maybe Riverside or if in the heart of the city, Santa Monica. Do you know what direction that is? One wag wrote that "LA signs merely tell those who know where they are going that they are almost there." If you were at City Hall, Ventura is north, San Diego is south, Riverside is east and Santa Monica is west.
 |
| Two for one? |
Lets look at indoor design. Here's some interesting wallpaper. It kinda makes you think well, hum, they ran out of toilet paper? I certainly would not be sharing these urinals. What is it about bathroom design that common sense is replaced by, oh I don't know, idiocy? It would seem that one of our most important functions takes a back seat to common sense. I am sure that everyone reading this has had this stall experience. It brings to mind a crazy radio show in Los Angeles where the morning hosts, Kevin and Bean sat in stalls and talked to the people that went into the stall next to them. I'll say one thing, they didn't linger! |
| Really? Snaps! |
Another area where design plays a crucial roll is baby clothes. Ever tried to put these on a crying angry baby? Those snaps are like creatures from hell as you wrestle with kicking legs and screaming baby. What are designers thinking of? In the 21st Century you have a choice of either zippers or velcro to use. The same could be said of men's buttons, women's hooks on jewelry or clothing (think of that dress it took two to put on). |
| Bidet anyone? |
We are surrounded by poor design and it can only be the choice of words and their placement for after all, a sign or poster "was" designed by someone too! I don't think the "take action" poster above intended you to quit school. Even though the message urges you to quit smoking what showed was another message altogether. It's everywhere and rather than becoming better now we have the Internet to consider as streams of poorly designed ads, hucksters and who knows what else seems to be coming out of every place we inhabit.
Bad design has a dark side too. As more and more trash covers the globe we seem to think no one will notice how things are packaged. I am sure you have purchased something like these toys only to find there is more than twice the packaging debris than there was toy. And it's just not toys either. Once you start to consider and look at the things around you, you too will notice the often disconnect in this world.
As I noted earlier ethnography is derived from the studies of anthropology studying how societies lived. It was a small step to document how people reacted, especially like Xerox, who had a product that no one was able to use.
Our lives today are filled with poor design ... computer operating systems that say "start" when you want to stop, toilet paper rolls too big for the holder, software that is difficult to use, phones that only a 13 year old could use, medicine bottles a senior can't open but their 3 year grandchild can, election ballot wording that gets you to vote yes when you really want to vote no, holding on the phone because "you are so important to us" and are forced to wait forever. The list goes on and on. And YES, sadly these things ARE designed to operate this way.
Design is probably the chief element in our lives ... from the government be it federal, state, county, city. Our work days are ruled by the hours of our work be it running a home, school or a job. All of these factors literally rule our day, our lives. When designs are effective things run smoothly but when they don't, as they so often do, lives can be miserable and in some cases lost.
The surest way to get things changed of course is to not buy it, subscribe to it and the ultimate, disobey it. Reward those that produce not only good enough products but those that offer exceptional products, a true value for their money. These might be fighting words but to maintain some kind of control over our lives we need to follow it rather than letting others control us.
Here in a nutshell is a description of the study of humans:
eth·nog·ra·phy
/eTHˈnäɡrəfē/
noun
the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.
The word derives from the Greek ethnos (folk, people, nation) and grapho (I write). Commonly, then, ethnography is a written account of cultural life, but one can also present ethnography in other media (e.g. an ethnographic film). Anthropologists commonly distinguish between two different kinds of meanings of the word: 1) an ethnographic account (text, film, sound), and 2) an ethnographic approach (a method that aims at documenting lived life).
Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!
Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!
